Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki says PlayStation is reforming currently their gaming business

Boswollox

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Playstation moving to America was the worst thing they could have done. They should have moved to a European nation.
Moving to Northern England or Scotland (Edinburgh) as their base and re-opening British studios; Liverpool, London etc, would have been a bigger benefit than moving to Cali.
 
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Playstation moving to America was the worst thing they could have done. They should have moved to a European nation.
Moving to Northern England or Scotland (Edinburgh) as their base and re-opening British studios; Liverpool, London etc, would have been a bigger benefit than moving to Cali.
Lol Europe isn't much different. No more western leadership. It's enough.
Japan is the only solution to mess created by Western influence.
 

Kokoloko

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Good there going back to Japan but these few bosses like Totoki and Kenichiro Yoshida are not console game fans and are just MS cucks.
 
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Puff

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Sony President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki says that PlayStation are currently reforming their gaming business with the following steps:

- Changing business structure
- New look at game development approach
- Portfolio concept to be introduced
- Cost cuts in different areas
- Optimization in investment in sales and marketing


Honestly, that sounds more negative than positive
 

Neversummer

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Read, I didn’t say that. I said the PlayStation division needs to be moved to Japan. The Californian studios can be trimmed or moved to cheaper areas in the USA. The main issue remains the HQ, this needs and will likely be reallocated to Japan 100%. Operating an huge business like PlayStation in California isn’t viable anymore for Sony. If someone will pull that off then it’s the money guy and chairman Totoki.
Totoki is another short vision double face like Herman. He consign the acquisition of Bungie, Firewalk & Haven all 3 studios that are all on turmoil with Bungie maybe being the only that can be revive if Marathon & Destiny Rising can be a hit. Haven looks like it can be another Firewalk/Concord ngl & the only reason she might survive is cause her name but if Fairgames is another Concord level bomb that’s over 500+ million wasted in investment on no name, no ip, no cadence/history studio in the gutter.
 
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Totoki is another short vision double face like Herman. He consign the acquisition of Bungie, Firewalk & Haven all 3 studios that are all on turmoil with Bungie maybe being the only that can be revive if Marathon & Destiny Rising can be a hit. Haven looks like it can be another Firewalk/Concord ngl & the only reason she might survive is cause her name but if Fairgames is another Concord level bomb that’s over 500+ million wasted in investment on no name, no ip, no cadence/history studio in the gutter.
He is just a victim and fell for the lies spread by Shawn Layden and Jim Ryan. Matsuda rolled the red carpet for Sony to buy Square Enix. But that old geezer Ryan bought instead Bungie and a spree of GaaS studios.
 

Neversummer

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Maybe they looked at what Nintendo is doing and might go that way for next gen.
I would be worried if PS just now started looking at Nintendo & said hmm maybe we should just copy how they do business & because w have a larger wallet make acquisition of publisher & do it at a larger scale (essentially what Xbox was going to do till Satya & the money pincher saw Xbox & Phill kept failing & bleeding money the past 10 years) Nintendo strategy is clearly the correct one. Smaller games lower budget less ambitious game more focus on fun gameplay/universe & charming/coop play allows for a faster output, faster output = more profits much at a much faster cadence & return = much stable business overall. Everything lockdown allows full control & profits at the hands of Nintendo etc etc. When Herman say they are targeting to release a minimum of 1 PS studios game per year that a problem for a publisher & platform
 

Landiri

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Lol Europe isn't much different. No more western leadership. It's enough.
Japan is the only solution to mess created by Western influence.
If the US is a 1/10, than EU is a 2/10 (On a good day, and if the planets align!).

The Cloud chasing of western trend-media has its limits, and is vastly over-saturated anyway.

Those people who might buy the newest AAA-Trend are not necessarily loyal or sustainable customers, as the recent trends have clearly shown.
 
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Kokoloko

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Honestly, that sounds more negative than positive
Without the old guard, this company is gonna do the rounds until they find someone who is right for the job. Hopefully its still in a decent place then
 
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Neversummer

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He is just a victim and fell for the lies spread by Shawn Layden and Jim Ryan. Matsuda rolled the red carpet for Sony to buy Square Enix. But that old geezer Ryan bought instead Bungie and a spree of GaaS studios.
Rn if PS + Herman/Totoki didn’t diminish the PS platform it would be pushing 75+ million by now + pushing the rest of the 50% of PS4 players into PS5 by having actual exclusive.

FF7, FF16 & the upcoming Square Enix games (if they acquired them) such as the next Neir, Dragon Quest 12, Parasite Eve remake, Crono Trigger/Cross remake, Xenogears remake, use the characters Square Enix own in Mario RPG such as the wood boy & the marshmallow guy & surprising Boshi (the blue Yoshi Dino that somehow Square Enix owns) & make a new universal family friendly franchise & slap tf out of Nintendo using Boshi. I’m not even counting the cross media, merchandise/toys & cross collaboration w PS studios using those ip w PS singleplayer or PS multiplayer games. Could’ve expanded Final Fantasy & Dragon Quest under PS by making Genshin impact & Honkai Starrail type games using those franchise for mobile & PS4 & PS5

In the eyes of Herman & Totoki the only way to grow profit is to diminish the PS platform & storefront in the long run to instead gain small profit in the short term. You know how PS increase there profits? Maybe make a Daxter from Jak & Daxter theme bikini Elie skin for $20 that could be use for TLOU1 remake & TLOU2 remake or a Daxter cosplay Elie Suit you know something cute that could become a meme & bring profit, those cosmetics would bring more profits & likely draw new gamers on PC, Xbox & Nintendo that would solely buy a PS or the game for those cosmetics just for the memes & conversation that would be insane online. (Adding value not only to the PS console but also the game itself & bring profits that is fully control & gain 100% of it) GOW ragnarok x Demon Souls? Ghost of Yotei/Sushi x inFAMOUS? Why isn’t there cosmetic skins in Ratchet & Clank rift apart where I can play as Jak & Daxter or Sly cooper I remember when PS would have these type of monetization back in the PS3 era it has been completely erased since the beginning of the PS4 gen.
 
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Boswollox

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Lol Europe isn't much different. No more western leadership. It's enough.
Japan is the only solution to mess created by Western influence.
Europe and the UK were and are massive territories for Sony. Historically, America was Xbox while Europe was always Sonyland. UK flips and flops now and then but they supported Sony through the PS1, 2 and 3.

Plus, the best western games come from Europe/UK. Fact.
 

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It’s happening as I have been exactly saying for years. Sony is done with California and will now look at cheaper areas to operate the PlayStation business. This makes the reallocation of the PlayStation division to Japan pretty realistic. Also this plays in with what Donald Trumps has announced: there will be an tax for gaming companies in America and an extra tax for foreign companies such as PlayStation up until to 40%, for operating on American soil.
This inlines with everything I have said. Sony will move the PlayStation division back to Japan. The expenses and upcoming changes by Trump are not viable anymore for Sony. And we know Totoki is a money guy. They will now focus on cost-effective regions such as Japan, Korea and China. For example see Astrobot. It was reported on the business update as a very successful game. In 9 weeks it sold 1.5m copies for a moderately budget. Also the Yen is weak and operating the PlayStation division in Japan will be much more profitable for Sony and easier to control. This is the future PlayStation needs. Sayonara California!



Quite a bunch of assumptions based off those 5 points alone. Especially about the "Trump tariff" boogeyman that somehow some people are assuming will apply to videogame consoles because of disinformation spread by mainstream media.

My take on the points are as follows:

- Changing business structure
Already started to take place earlier this year, with Hulst running Playstation Studios and Nishino running platforms (consoles + PSN + cloud), both reporting to Sony CFO Totoki.

- New look at game development approach
Less ballooning AAA, more AA like Astrobot.

- Portfolio concept to be introduced
Reverts back to more AA and less AAA. Perhaps another push into crossing IPs towards other media (like series and movies).

- Cost cuts in different areas
No more subsidized consoles, less AAA projects.

- Optimization in investment in sales and marketing
No more subsidized consoles, lower hardware discounts during holiday sales.



Totoki is a bean counter who only worries about the bottom end. That doesn't mean he hates Trump or is afraid of Trump's tariffs, nor that he is moving everything back to Japan (which would indeed anger Trump's or anyone else's cabinets, and could result in tariffs as a blowback).
It means he'll cut down on expenditures where he doesn't see enough added value and increase prices.


I think Totoki is like a kid whose been given a loaded gun. The guy has absolutely no idea of what made Playstation win the console wars. He doesn't really know why people flocked to Playstation and left Xbox which is the quality 1st-party exclusive games. That's why he's focusing only on the revenue and operating profits numbers. The amount of damage he's about to cause to the brand might be irreparable.
The only possible outcome I see here is if he disbands all DEI iniciatives.



I could see Totoki pushing for not releasing the PS6 nor any other console ever again, and turn Playstation into a PC platform that competes with Steam. That would flatlline all hardware expenditure and increase operating profit in the short term,
 
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Quite a bunch of assumptions based off those 5 points alone. Especially about the "Trump tariff" boogeyman that somehow some people are assuming will apply to videogame consoles because of disinformation spread by mainstream media.

My take on the points are as follows:

- Changing business structure
Already started to take place earlier this year, with Hulst running Playstation Studios and Nishino running platforms (consoles + PSN + cloud), both reporting to Sony CFO Totoki.

- New look at game development approach
Less ballooning AAA, more AA like Astrobot.

- Portfolio concept to be introduced
Reverts back to more AA and less AAA. Perhaps another push into crossing IPs towards other media (like series and movies).

- Cost cuts in different areas
No more subsidized consoles, less AAA projects.

- Optimization in investment in sales and marketing
No more subsidized consoles, lower hardware discounts during holiday sales.



Totoki is a bean counter who only worries about the bottom end. That doesn't mean he hates Trump or is afraid of Trump's tariffs, nor that he is moving everything back to Japan (which would indeed anger Trump's or anyone else's cabinets, and could result in tariffs as a blowback).
It means he'll cut down on expenditures where he doesn't see enough added value and increase prices.


I think Totoki is like a kid whose been given a loaded gun. The guy has absolutely no idea of what made Playstation win the console wars. He doesn't really know why people flocked to Playstation and left Xbox which is the quality 1st-party exclusive games. That's why he's focusing only on the revenue and operating profits numbers. The amount of damage he's about to cause to the brand might be irreparable.
The only possible outcome I see here is if he disbands all DEI iniciatives.



I could see Totoki pushing for not releasing the PS6 nor any other console ever again, and turn Playstation into a PC platform that competes with Steam. That would flatlline all hardware expenditure and increase operating profit in the short term,
As if Sony cares that Trump's feelings could get hurt. Trump and USA don't own Sony. Sony will do what is best in their interests. Plus Sony is Japanese they don't need to justify any of their decisions to anyone, nor do they need the approval lol. Yes it will and it can happen the move. Everyone was saying Jim Ryan would never step down but he did. I said two years ago that Ryan would be forced to resign and I was correct with my assumption. Everything what happened within the past months and the statements shared by Totoki, indicates they are more than dissatisfied with the current state of PlayStation and the high expenses in America overall. Sony will move PlayStation back to Japan, mark my words.
 

Puff

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No it sound like a strategy. It resembles the approach they had in the PS1 era.
Reducing costs almost always involves some form of layoffs. One thing is certain: none of the measures Hiroki takes will benefit PlayStation players.